


isn't it lovely (pt.1)

by axmcao



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, relationship centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24499918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axmcao/pseuds/axmcao
Summary: fix-it's? i guess. missing scenes and extensions too.season 3.
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 81





	1. 3x11

**Author's Note:**

> a video chat. sara getting around to asking ava on that date.

The sound of the metal jumpship door sliding closed behind her grants Captain Sara Lance one thing: a modicum of privacy. It’s hard to come by on the Waverider, and, these days, sneaking away to waste her time on ridiculous crossword puzzles is as much of a vacation as she’s going to get.

Sara walks further into the jumpship, newspaper and pencil in hand, and sits down in the captain’s chair; a cup of tea cooling next to her. She leans her head back, closes her eyes, and just breathes for a few seconds. After Zari’s personal Groundhog Day debacle with Gideon, Sara wants nothing more than to just sit here, listen to the faint whirring of the Waverider’s mechanics, and just think for a minute. Think about how Zari finally met (and learned something from) Gideon. Think about how she’s glad Zari is finally finding her footing within the Legends, and how happy she is that Zari now better understands how important she is to this team. Sara knows she’ll need Zari’s genius, plus her air totem, and all the help she can get when it’ll come down to the fight against Mallus.

She truly is grateful to have Zari as a Legend. The girl is smart, she’s brave, and she wants to fight. She’s just stubborn sometimes, and Sara can’t mock that. And, just maybe, Zari gives good advice; personal or not.

At some point, Sara began tapping her pencil against the newspaper sitting on her thigh; almost as if she were subconsciously releasing the remaining anxieties from her body. She picks her head up off the headrest and takes another breath. She unfolds the crossword puzzle, and reads the first clue.

However long passes by, and random parts of the puzzle have been filled out. Slightly bored, Sara lets her mind wander; half thinking about the answers to the remaining clues, half thinking just about nothing. Until those thoughts land on Ava, and the many video calls they’ve had recently. Agent Sharpe, until very recently. A woman Sara once thought to be just about the most aggravating human being she’s encountered in a long time. With each interaction, though, since that awkward and tense morning in the Time Bureau Headquarters, she’s seen Ava loosen up; soften, almost. Her posture less uptight, her jaw muscles less clenched, her hair now loosely curled over one shoulder.

Sara isn’t sure when exactly she started noticing Ava’s shift in demeanor. Maybe it was when Ava thanked her after she informed Ava and the Bureau of Rip’s whereabouts, maybe it was when she apologized when Director Bennet wouldn’t let the Bureau assist the Legends in their fight against the Darkh’s in Valhalla. She seemed genuinely sorry, but she left anyway. But then Ava helped anyway. 

Ava cared enough to not care about direct orders. 

_It was worth it. See you again._

A small, reserved smile played on Ava’s lips that day, and Sara was sure she hadn’t seen anything so beautiful in a long time. That is, until she saw Ava’s full smile, on video chat some days later; joking about having a glass of wine, while Leo eavesdropped from afar. 

Sara smiled at the memory, head quickly snapping up to look around and see an obviously empty jumpship; the Captain nervous that anyone had seen her. She awkwardly adjusts her posture in the chair and shakes her head, as her mind thinks of countless video chats between the two of them, right here in this very jumpship.

Sara is really, really glad her and Ava have become friends. A part of her brain, and an even bigger part of her heart, wishes their friendship would progress even further.

That thought makes her a little scared. She wouldn't want to expose anyone to what she's done in her past. But then again, Ava already knows. She's read Sara's file. 

Snapping herself back into the present, and she's bored of her half-finished crossword puzzle. She also can't get Ava out of her head now, so Sara sits up a little further and hits a few buttons on the small screen in front of her chair. A few quiet buzzes later, and a video feed of Ava opens on the screen. Sara notices she was already smiling when the feed opened, seeming as if she were happy that Sara called her, and she was excited to talk to her. Sara thinks passed the warm feeling settling into her chest, and decides to carry on like a normal catch-up conversation.

 _That woman obviously has a crush on you_ , Leo’s voice echoes in her mind, but she shakes her head passed that too.

“Hey,” Sara says, keeping it as casual as she can, voice even.

“Hey,” Ava responds, head tilting a little to the side as she adds, “What’re you up to? More crosswords?” She chuckles a little at the end, almost as a tease.

Sara sighs out a laugh and once again looks around the jumpship. Sara knows she’s just joking, but she wouldn’t dare call Ava out on the teasing, at the risk of losing that smile and the cute scrunch in those gray eyes. She's noticed how easily Ava gets flustered, and as cute as Sara thinks that is, she just wants to selfishly enjoy Ava's natural, relaxed state she's recently become familiar with.

“You caught me,” she jokes right back. “Although, I think I’m stuck on this one. I’ve been staring at the same clues for a while now,” she looks back at Ava and shrugs.

“Well, what’d the Legends get up to today? You look a little tired,” Ava says with such a gentle tone, Sara isn’t even offended. She’s almost flattered that Ava seems like she actually cares.

“Thanks,” Sara says with a roll of her eyes and a huff of a laugh. Ava smiles right back at her, grateful that Sara got along with the joke. “Actually, today was a little wild, to say the least.” Sara can tell that Ava sits up a little straighter, almost immediately. She can see the concern in her eyes, so Sara calmly lifts her hands, quick to shut down what she knows Ava is about to ask, “No, nothing happened with Mallus, I promise.”

“Good, I definitely don’t want any repeat of what happen in Valhalla. Ever,” Ava says. They look each other in the eyes for a second, and Sara wonders how a video chat can make someones gray eyes convey so much emotion. She decides in that moment to appreciate them more in person. Sara notices she’s tapping her pencil against her thigh again, so she snaps herself back into the moment and continues her story. The crossword puzzle is long forgotten.

“It actually has to do with Zari. She started the day by messing with Gideon’s entire system to create a simulation which looks for loopholes in history,” Sara pauses for a second to look at Ava, and she smiles herself at what she sees; Ava’s jaw dropped and eyebrows raised.

“Wow…That’s, I-I don’t even know,” Ava stammers out. “That’s definitely against regulation.”

Sara smiles, “You bet it is. And even better, after she crashed Gideon, Gideon decided to mess with Zari and trap her inside her own simulation.” Sara’s been looking at Ava this entire time, seeing her face morph into more confusion with each passing second.

“What does that even mean?” Ava asked, genuinely confused.

“Gideon wanted her to realize on her own how integral she is to the Legends, so she trapped her in her very own version of Groundhog Day, where we all died at the end of everyday,” Sara says, deadpan. Although, it didn’t seem to help Ava, because she just looked more confused. “Or actually, Zari kept calling it ‘hedgehog day’,” she finishes with a shrug.

Ava lets a genuine laugh. Not a giggle, but a full head thrown back, eyes scrunched, laugh. Sara laughs right along with her, now fully understanding how silly the concept is. She’s glad Ava was able to help her find humor in this situation, because there was nothing funny about it that morning. When the two of them calm down, Sara knows wants to hear Ava’s laugh all the time, as often as possible.

 _You should ask Ava out_ , Zari pushed as they sat in the kitchen after the ordeal.

Still smiling, Sara adds, “Luckily, Zari was able to work herself out of Gideon’s matrix, but it sounded so stressful,” Sara bits her lower lip as her smile dies down. She looks at the screen to see Ava’s face doing the same. “I’m glad she learned what she had to and that she figured out how important she is to this team, but I hate being the bad guy all the time.” She’s still fidgeting with her pencil.

“Yeah, I can relate to that,” Ava nods in understanding. “I know I probably seem like the type of person who loves ordering people around, and I do, just a little," she brings her hand up and squeezes her fingers together to show what she means by 'a little'; the act accompanied by an adorable scrunch of Ava's face, and Sara pretends to not notice the tip of Ava's tongue sticking out from between her lips as she did it. Her face goes serious again as she adds, "I wish there was something I could’ve done to help,” she adds with an almost apologetic look. Sara knows she’s being honest, not just saying it out of obligation. She’s quickly learning how compassionate Ava can be, and she finds herself wanting to know all the complexities of Ava’s personality.

"Hey, no, there's nothing you could've done. I didn't even know about it until Zari woke up in the Medbay from Gideon's matrix," Sara reassures, waving her hand in the air, still appreciating Ava's newfound generosity towards her team. It has been a while since she's called them idiots. 

She really has seemed like a different person recently. Maybe not a different person, because Sara still sees badass, leader Agent Sharpe at the Time Bureau, but now she also sees a kinder hearted, more understanding Ava too.

She catches Ava staring at her, before she quickly clears her throat and looks away, at whatever she has in what Sara can only assume is Ava's office at the Time Bureau. Maybe Leo was right. Maybe her and Ava were more similar than she originally thought. She really didn't think Ava had the same feelings for her that she did for Ava, but then again, maybe she was misreading the situation. Maybe she didn't see it because she didn't think it was possible that Ava would feel the same.

Sara realizes that she's been in her head a bit too long and the silence now was almost awkward. Ava was scratching at the back of her neck, which Sara has noticed as one of Ava's nervous ticks. She makes a split decision; a decision to listen to Zari.

_My relationships have a way of ending badly_

Sara takes a deep breath. “Hey, Ava?” Sara asks.

“Mm?”

“Would you maybe want to come to the ship? Have that glass of wine we talked about?” Sara is smooth as she says it, unlike the last time she asked Ava to come to the ship, after she and Constantine got back from the asylum. Or the time Ava asked if she could come to the ship to ‘compare notes’ but Sara had said no. She feels like she’s holding her breath, suddenly nervous of how the conversation will go this time.

“Ugh, I can’t,” Ava responds and Sara feels her stomach sink, disappointment clearly written on her face as she continues to look at Ava. “I’m still at the Bureau and I have a ton of work to do.”

“Agent Sharpe,” Sara says with fake incredulousness, “are you ignoring your work?” The _for me_ goes unsaid, but Ava picks up on it.

“Kind of?” Ava admits shyly, hand going back the nape of her neck, and Sara is a little shocked at the honesty. “I was on my break anyway, and I wanted to talk to you.” The shy smile is back, reminding Sara of that day in the Medbay after Ava pulled her from Mallus’s realm.

Sara feels her heart flutter and she doesn’t try to ignore it this time.

_Sometimes love is worth the risk_

“Okay, well, if you have to get back to work. Rain check on the wine then? Maybe this Friday? Over dinner in a nicer restaurant?” Sara asks, and she can see the surprise on Ava’s face, but decides to keep up her bravery and not look away from the screen. She’s twisting the pencil in her hands so tightly it’s starting to burn her fingertips.

The still air between Ava's surprised face and her answer feels much longer than a few seconds, but the silence scares Sara all in the same.

“Y-yeah. I’d like that. Very much,” Ava seems flustered, as if she’s nervous about this too, and that calms Sara down a little bit. Sara's nervousness is almost fully replaced with relief, and it gives her a little more confidence.

“Great. I can text you details later?”

“Great. See you again,” Ava says. She closes the video chat with her head down, eyes up, and cheeks flushed.

The screen goes dark and Sara is once again left alone in the jumpship, hearing nothing but the faint sounds of the Waverider. She drops her pencil, and leans her head against the headrest once again, eyes closed, breathing this time to calm herself down for a different reason.

“See you again,” Sara whispers.


	2. 3x12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the date. and afterwards.

_See you then. :)_

Sara read Ava’s text over again. They finally did it. After some weeks of subtle flirting and classic courtship signals (as Leo pointed out), Sara found the confidence to ask Ava on a date. She locks her phone and leaves it on the table, and looks around her quarters. Her date is in a couple hours, and she’s still trying to find an outfit to wear.

Sara is surprised by how nervous she feels. She’s excited, of course, but nervous, because she didn’t realize how much this actually means to her. It seems juvenile to say, but the butterflies in her stomach are all Sara can think about. It’s been a long time since she felt this giddy about someone, and she almost feels like she’s dangling herself off of a ledge. Sara has gotten used to leading this life on her own, but something about Ava seems to be changing that. 

She settles on a very flattering red romper that shows just enough cleavage. She looks at herself in the mirror, takes a breath to attempt to settle the butterflies, grabs her purse and heads toward the jumpship. She hopes the rest of the team will just lay low for the night. 

She sits in the fancy Star City restaurant, anxiously finger-tapping the stem of her martini glass as she waits for Ava. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen if this date doesn’t work out. Would the Bureau find out? How weird would it be for her and Ava to be in the same room? Sara starts to freak herself out, but she doesn’t have much time to dwell on the worst case scenario when she hears high heeled footsteps behind her. 

Ava looks incredible. Better than Sara could’ve imagined. More beautiful, and Sara didn’t even think that was possible. 

If someone told her a couple months ago that she’d be crazy about Agent Ava Sharpe of the Time Bureau, she would’ve laughed. But here she is, in awe of the gorgeous woman in front of her.

Ava definitely felt the same way about her. She stuttered out a “Wow” when she saw Sara. 

“Red is a wonderful colorful on you,” she adds, and Sara mentally high-fives herself for picking the right outfit.

They agreed not to talk about work, to make it as normal of a first date as possible. 

It was going great, stories being tossed back and forth. Stories about Ava’s ruthless paintball tactics and Sara’s embarrassing, yet adorable, rendition of Peter Pan. They were genuinely having a good time.

There’s a beat of silence, which Ava decides to fill. 

“I’m really glad we’re doing this,” Ava says, staring down at her wine glass, almost too quiet for Sara to hear if she wasn’t paying attention.

But Sara caught it, so she tilts her head at Ava, and she responds with a simple, “Me too.”

Ava looks up at her. Not that Ava didn’t expect Sara to take this date as seriously as she is, it’s just nice to see she was a little on edge too. It adds to the sense of normalcy of a first date. 

They were having a really good time, and Sara wonders if Ava will take her home tonight. She hopes so. She lets her mind wander for a second to imagine what it would be like in Ava’s bed, naked, with Ava leaning over her.

Then Ava chokes a little on her food, and rushes to the restroom. Sara scrunches her face in confusion as she half turns around to watch Ava practically run off. Was that Gary?

But when she sees the Waverider doing its best impression of a shooting star outside of the restaurant, she knows the night is over. 

Sara sighs, and hesitates before she dropped the cash on the table in front of her, meals only half eaten on their plates. 

Sara regretfully leaves the restaurant before Ava even gets back to the table. She jumps back to the Waverider, determined to fix whatever interrupted arguably the best date she’s ever been on. 

Pirates. Of course. Why not?

She’s talking to Nate and Ray when she hears a portal open behind her. She turns around, trying to play it cool, but Ava is in no mood. _Understandably,_ Sara thinks; she’d probably be just as upset.She really did take dine and dash to a whole new level.

Nate and Ray walk away, leaving the two of them to argue. Their voices are rising, and they're going back and forth until Sara finally snaps. She's upset that it's not going to work out, but she turns that emotion into pseudo-anger at Ava. She goes on to tell Ava that it's not going to work out if she has to pretend, but she barely finishes her sentence before Ava responds.

“I don’t want you to be normal!” Ava practically yells back at her. It startles Sara; it’s not at all what she expected Ava to say to her. Deep inside she realizes it’s what she _wanted_ Ava to say. Sara can't pretend to be normal for anybody; not even Ava.

“You don’t?” Her eyes are wide, and she’s hopeful. Hopeful that Ava actually means it and that she’s not just saying it to deescalate the situation. 

“Hell no,” Ava replies, much quieter than her earlier statement.

Then they’re kissing. It’s rushed, and a little frantic, but it’s amazing. Their mouthes move agains each other for a minute or two, hands tangled in each others’ hair as they stand in their own little bubble. They’re unfortunately interrupted by pirates who somehow managed to walk through a portal onto the Waverider. 

They look at each other for a moment, silently telling the other that they’ll get back to that once they take care of these pirates. They grab their weapons, and do what they do best.

Once everything is settled, Sara and Ava find themselves back on the Waverider, in the kitchen, trying to salvage whatever is left of their first date. It’s much more casual, Ava’s even let her hair down, and they’ve taken their shoes off. They laugh at the Captain Jiwe rum Sara’s using for their rum floats. Ava’s apologized for running off after Gary at the restaurant. Knowing that Ava was going to come right back to the table to tell her this situation at the Bureau makes Sara feel even worse about just leaving. She really could’ve just told Ava the truth. 

“Hey, Ava, look,” Sara starts as she places her drink down. She wants this to work out so badly. It would kill her if Ava thought she left the date early simply because she didn’t want to be there anymore. “I really am sorry I left without letting you know what was going on. I should’ve. Honestly, you’re probably the one person who would’ve understood the situation.” Sara looks at Ava sheepishly; she is genuinely sorry. She’s glad Ava is still here, still talking to her.

Ava gives her gentle smile. “It’s okay, Sara. I get it,” she looks away for a second a shrugs, before looking back at Sara and gently placing her hand on top of Sara’s, which is sitting on the table in front of them. “I was the one who said we shouldn’t talk about work. Which I immediately rescind, because you’re right. We might be the only people who will understand each others’ stresses.” Ava slowly runs her pointer finger over the silver of one of the rings on Sara’s finger.

Sara can see Ava’s blush, sensing her sudden nervousness. Sara makes the move to flip her hand over from under Ava’s, now effectively holding her hand, while she runs her thumb back and forth over Ava’s knuckles. It’s something so small, but so soft, it gets Ava to look Sara in the eyes. They just smile at each other for a while, and Sara breaks the silence. 

“Well, how about something a little less normal for our next date? Maybe Genghis Khan?” Sara asks, smirk on her face as she looks at Ava.

“Deal,” Ava laughs out as she shakes her head. 

“Good,” Sara says. She’s got one hand in Ava’s and the other holding her rum float. She’s so grateful they were able to talk this out. Even more grateful that Ava came after her on the Waverider. 

They’re sitting in comfortable silence, sipping their drinks and still holding hands, when Ava speaks up.

“So, you got a room on this ship?” 

Sara look at her, huge smile breaking out on her face. Before she answers, she stands up.

“Come find out,” She responds. She drags her palm up Ava’s thigh as she walks past her. Ava bites her lip and stands up to follow Sara.

Ava catches up to Sara outside the kitchen. Sara laughs as she grabs onto Ava’s hand again.

They make it to Sara’s quarters, the door slides open, and Ava walks in first. Sara follows and the door closes behind them. Sara leans against the now closed door and tugs on Ava’s hand so she turns around and she pulls Ava so close, they’re almost touching. Sara moves her hands to Ava’s waist, under her blazer, lightly running her hands up and down her sides. Ava looks at her, and her eyes drop to Sara’s lips as she moves her hands to the sides of Sara’s neck. 

Ava leans down and connects their lips. Their second kiss being a complete contrast from their first. It’s gentle and slow; it’s filled with more passion and emotion that neither of them are holding back anymore. There’s no rush anywhere; no pirates coming to fight them, no totems to protect right then. Sara, who’s still leaning against the door, squeezes Ava’s sides a bit too tight. Ava pulls back, far enough to be able to look at Sara, but close enough that they’re still touching. 

“What?” Ava asks, slightly concerned, with her thumbs rubbing back and forth on Sara’s cheeks.

Sara thinks about brushing her thoughts off and just getting into bed with Ava, but the look in Ava’s eyes tells her that she’s safe right here, in this very moment, and that’s not something Sara is all that used to.

“Just…thank you. for coming back. For coming after me,” Sara whispers. Her breath stutters a bit before she adds, “I really am sorry.”

Ava’s confused and scrunched face softens at the apology. She sighs and takes her hand and pushes a loose strand of hair behind Sara’s ear before bringing her hand back down to cup her cheek. It’s an action so intimate it almost scared Sara, but she can’t move away if she tried. This is the exact placed she hoped she’d be at the end of the night. She wants this. She wants Ava. 

“It’s okay, I get it. And I wasn’t going to let this slip away from me that easily,” she says so honestly, Sara breaks out in the biggest smile. A smile that Ava mirrors, as she pulls Sara’s face closer for another kiss. 

Still standing by the door, the kisses start to get heated; Sara’s hands are roaming a little more now as they’ve moved up her ribs, over her breasts to push the blazer off of Ava’s shoulders. Once it hits the ground, Sara pushes off the door and walks Ava backwards towards the bed. 

Once Ava’s legs hit the mattress, she goes to lay back, not disconnecting herself from Sara’s lips for even a second. Sara moves her back so Ava’s head rests on the pillow, straddling Ava’s hips in the process. Sara pulls back to look at Ava again, her hair laying across the pillow, painting one of the most beautiful pictures Sara’s ever seen. She checks in one last time, “Are you sure-“

“Yes!” Ava doesn’t even let her finish her sentence. She has one hand holding a grip on the collar of Sara’s shirt, and the other in Sara’s hair. “I want this.” 

Sara smiles and kisses her again. Things quickly picked up where they left off. Sara moves her mouth to Ava’s neck, leaving kisses there as her hands move to Ava’s chest, slowly unbuttoning her work shirt. Ava lets out small moans as both of her hands stay tangled in Sara’s hair. Once Ava's shirt lays open, Sara captures her lips one more time before she sits back and removes her own shirt. As Ava looks at her in awe, Sara grabs Ava’s hands, intertwines their fingers, and pushes them down into the mattress on either side of Ava’s head as she kisses her. They both smile and laugh a little, but the passion quickly returns as Sara begins kissing Ava’s neck and down her chest. 

Soon, the rest of their clothes littered the floor of Sara’s quarters.

Afterward, they find themselves wrapped around each other; Ava laying on her back with her head turned towards Sara, while Sara is next to her on her stomach, left arm wrapped tightly around Ava’s torso. They’re both content in the silence with everything; the date, the sex, and the new relationship that, a few months ago, neither woman would’ve seen coming. 

As they lay there, naked and half asleep, they both made silent promises that they wanted to make this work. And step one in that plan, was to leave normal behind. 


	3. 3x13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> featuring: a bed scene before that kitchen scene, verbal and non-verbal communication, and a semi-important relationship conversation.

Ava wakes first, opening her eyes to the faint light overhead in Sara’s quarters. She’s naked, a little sore, and she smiles a little as remembers how she got here. It wasn’t her first time staying on the Waverider, that was after their first date, but this is the first time she’s woken up with Sara, and she didn’t immediately have to leave for work.

She’s lying on her right side, and she can feel Sara wrapped around her from behind. Sara’s holding her tight, and Ava wouldn’t have expected Sara, reformed assassin, to be so cuddly. She’s definitely not complaining, though. Ava’s never been more comfortable than she is right now; with Sara pressed against her back, holding her tight with her left forearm laying against Ava’s sternum.

Ava reaches down to grab Sara’s hand, and gives a quick kiss to her knuckles. She’s about to bury her head back into the pillow and attempt to fall back asleep, but the movement must’ve awoken Sara, who is now stretching a little behind her, laying a kiss to Ava’s shoulder blade.

Ava turns over to face her, still holding onto one of Sara’s hands. “Good morning,” she whispers, careful to not to cause a shift in the quiet atmosphere.

“Mm,” Sara hums back at her, not even opening her eyes yet. She removes her hand from Ava’s grip, and places it on Ava’s neck, fingers scratching across her scalp and through her long hair. Sara’s eyes are still closed.

They lay in silence for a while longer. Ava’s sure the content smile on her face is permanent. Until a growl comes from Ava’s stomach, clearly telling her she needs some kind of breakfast.

A laugh comes from Sara lying next to her, and she stills the hand in Ava’s hair and finally opens her eyes. Ava can’t help but laugh a little, too.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Sara says, still sounding sleepy. Ava thinks it’s adorable, and a funny contrast from her normal intimidating disposition. She moves to sit up and lean against the headboard, and looks down at Ava. “You want to get some breakfast?” She asks Ava.

As Sara sat up, the sheet fell down her body, exposing her abs and bare chest, which Ava can’t help but stare at.

She snaps herself out of it pretty quickly, but she can tell Sara noticed her staring because when Ava looks back up at Sara, Sara’s got that signature smirk on her face.

“Yeah, yeah. Breakfast sounds good,” Ava manages to get out.

Sara gets out of bed and walks towards her closet, not caring that she’s still completely naked. Ava catches herself staring again.

“Suddenly, I don’t really want to get out of bed anymore,” Ava says slyly. She hears Sara laugh and sees her turn around to look at her.

Before Ava can say anything else, her jacket is tossed at her and she hears Sara say, “come on.”

Ava sighs and throws on the jacket, and gets out of bed to find her pants from the day before. Once she gets them on, Sara walks by her in jeans and a red t-shirt.

“Yup. Red is still definitely your color,” Ava says, reminiscing about the outfit Sara wore on their first date.

Sara turns and looks at her with so much adoration, it’s as if the world stopped for a second. Sara lifts one hand to Ava’s face, and pulls down to connect their lips in the softest kiss imaginable. It only lasts for a few seconds, though, when Sara pulls back with a gentle smile and she says, “let’s go eat.”

Ava thinks about making a joke, but she’s a little overwhelmed with emotion, so she just lets Sara grab her hand to lead her out to the kitchen. Ava follows with her bottom lip between her teeth and a slight blush across her cheeks.

Those few moments in the kitchen alone were incredible. Both women took turns catching the other staring at them. Each time, a bigger smile would break out on their faces. Neither woman expected to fall so quickly for the other.

When they first met, there was so much tension, it didn’t seem like they could ever be civil with one another. But now, here they were, eating breakfast together after Ava spent the night on the Waverider. They hadn’t defined what they were to each other yet, but they both knew there were real feelings there. They both knew this wasn’t a one time thing.

“I think I’ll have more of this amazing french toast, Gideon,” Ava says, when she manages to tear her eyes away from the ocean-blue of Sara’s.

“Must’ve worked up an appetite last night,” Sara countered, with a smirk on her face. She’s leaning on her elbows on the table as she eats, giving Ava a perfect view of her cleavage. Ava wonders if she’s leaning like that on purpose.

As Ava walks by, Sara juts her hips out, and her butt knocks into Ava. Ava hears Sara laugh a little as she goes back to eating her raspberries. As Ava grabs her food from the fabricator and walks back to where she was standing beforehand, she drags her hand across Sara’s lower back as she passes by. She feels Sara jerk a little, and Ava considers that a success.

They stand and eat in a content silence, and Sara’s never felt so comfortable. She stops eating and looks up at Ava as Ava looks back at her. She really thinks Ava is wonderful, and she’s not sure she’s ever been this happy in her life.

The bliss was shortlived, as Zari walked in and Gary called in with the video of Ray saying he’s been kidnapped by the Darhk’s.

Sara looked at Ava with a soft smile that read I’m sorry, and Ava shrugged her shoulders and smiled back. They walked out to the bridge, ready to figure out the plan to save Ray.

Then Rip shows up, and that pisses both Sara and Ava off.

 _Working together. Independently_.

That definitely rubbed Sara the wrong way. She knows Ava didn’t mean it like that, she was just trying to get Rip off their backs; but still, it affected Sara more than she wanted to admit. She looked at Ava and saw that she had a bitter taste in her mouth after she said it too.

Maybe they’ll talk later. But, Ray was still missing. And they needed a plan.

They couldn’t figure out a plan.

And nothing they were doing was getting any closer to bringing Ray back.

Sara’s sure she can stand in her office and launch throwing stars at pictures of Damien Darhk for the rest of her life if she needed to . She hears Ava portal in, and start going off about whatever Bureau politics or red-tape she facing at the moment, and honestly, Sara doesn’t care. She wants to turn around and tell Ava to stop, but she doesn’t have the energy at the moment.

Ava notices, though, and she immediately stops her rambling. Uncrossing hers arms and dropping them to her sides, Ava says, “I’m so sorry, here I am rambling on and your friend is still missing.” Ava walks a closer to Sara, hoping to get the other girl to look at her. She can see the stress written all over Sara’s face. “How are you doing?” she asks, voice softer than her previous tone.

Instead of responding, Sara throws yet another star at the picture of Darhk, this time ripping the entire thing right down the middle. She’s hoping that sends the message to Ava.

“Wow. Okay. I-“

“Nothing we’re doing is bringing us any closer to finding Ray,” Sara interrupts before Ava even finishes her sentence.

Ava steps in front of Sara, and put her hands on her shoulders and lightly rubs them up and down Sara’s biceps as an attempt at comfort.

“Hey, we’re going to figure out a way to get Ray back, I promise,” Ava says softly, trying to convey as much reassurance as she can, even though she really doesn’t know what they’re going to do.

Sara closes her eyes as she sighs. “I know. Just extra frustrating because it’s Darhk,” she finishes. She looks up at Ava and sees understanding, and a little sympathy.

“Can we have a little more of that nonverbal communication?” Sara asks. Ava doesn’t think twice before leaning to kiss her softly. Her hands have drifted down to hold Sara’s, and Ava can physically feel the tension release from Sara’s grip. Ava pulls back too soon, evident by the look of disappointment on Sara’s face. Ava’s sure she feels her heart flutter, but now’s not the time.

Ava chuckles a little, and squeezes Sara’s hands before dropping them and saying, “let’s figure this out.”

And they do.

Afterwards, Sara’s exhausted. She's sitting in her quarters thinking about the day when she gets a text message.

_Want company?_

She immediately replies, _yes._

Within a few seconds, a portal opens and Ava walks through wearing a pair of black leggings and a light blue slouchy sweater, her straight hair over both shoulders. Sara loves seeing Ava out of her bureau suit; it’s refreshing and Sara falls for her a little more each time she sees her so casual.

Ava's standing there, a little awkward, as her fingers tug at the end of the sleeves of her sweater. Sara stands up and slowly walks towards Ava, and Ava can almost feel the fatigue radiating off Sara; she can certainly see it in the dark circles under the most beautiful blue eyes she’s ever seen.

Once Sara reaches Ava, she looks up at Ava’s soft smile and slowly leans in and lays her forehead on Ava’s collarbone, as Ava’s hand come up to wrap around her back.

Sara closes her eyes and lets out a sigh as Ava starts rubbing her hands up and down her back, trying to relieve the tension in the muscles there. “It’s okay,” Ava whispers.

“I know, i’m just thinking,” she says back.

Ava pulls back, concern immediately sparked, “is everything else alright?”

“Yeah. It’s really not a big deal. I’m just glad the day is over,” Sara replies almost honestly. She’s really glad Ray’s back, but that’s not the part of the day she’s thinking about right now.

She can tell Ava’s not convinced by her half-assed reassurance, purely by the raised eyebrow on Ava’s face as she continues to look down at Sara.

Sara steps back from Ava and sits down on her bed. Ava doesn’t follow, she just stands still and crosses her arms over her chest as she listens.

“I just-I was thinking about what you said to Rip this morning. On the bridge,” Sara pauses as she looks up at Ava, who looks as confused and concerned as before.

Sara sees the exact moment Ava realizes what she’s talking about. Ava drops her arms, eyebrows raised and jaw almost dropped. She moves to sit next to Sara, her hands finding Sara’s thigh as they now sit facing each other on the bed.

“Sara, I’m so sorry. I really am. I didn’t know what you wanted me to say or how much you wanted Rip to know, I just panicked, I’m so-“ Ava’s ramble is interrupted by a giant smile on Sara’s face.

Sara chuckles a little as she grabs one of Ava’s hands and presses quick kiss to her knuckles, before bringing her hand back down to its previous position on her thigh.

“I know. I figured that’s why you said it. It just caught me off guard, I just thought you were going to be honest,” She sees Ava about to open her mouth to apologize again, so Sara cuts her off before she can start.

“It’s okay, I promise. It’s just-“ Sara bites her lip, thinking of how to phrase what she really wants to say. As she did, Ava began rubbing her finger over Sara’ knuckles; another attempt at relaxing her.

“I think it’s how you said it that kind of got to me,” Sara starts to say, “I guess I just want to make sure we’re on the same page here?”

“Yes, I promise. Together,” Ava says with such certainty and finality that Sara can’t help but smile even more. She knew inside that Ava felt the same way, but hearing her say it made the last of that insecurity disappear.

“Good,” now, Ava’s smile mirrors Sara’s.

Sara brings her hands up to Ava’s face as she says, “Good, because I don’t really care who knows about us dating.” She leans in for a soft kiss, which Ava melts into. It doesn’t last long, though, because both womens’ smiles break it, so they settle for gently pressing their foreheads together as they sit in the peace of Sara’s quarters.

Sara kisses Ava one more time, brushing her thumb back and forth on Ava’s cheek before pulling back to look into those gray eyes she’s become so accustomed to so quickly. Sara really does think that Ava is so wonderful, she’s so glad she has someone like her to be on her side through all this.

“Let’s go to bed, babe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> up next: 3x15 (obvi)
> 
> xo


End file.
